House votes to place income tax ban before voters

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The House has given final approval to a proposed constitutional amendment to ban a state income tax in Tennessee.

The chamber voted 88-8 to approve the measure sponsored by Republican Rep. Glen Casada on Monday.

The vote completes a lengthy process for constitutional amendments, which must pass both chambers in consecutive General Assemblies before they can go before the voters in the same year a governor's election is held.

Supporters scrambled to sign up as co-sponsors to the bill as the clerk read the language of the proposed constitutional amendment on its last reading.

Democratic Rep. Mike Stewart of Nashville sought to remind members that the last push for a state income tax was led by then-Gov. Don Sundquist, a Republican, more than a decade ago.